$240M for Telecom Switches (Updated)
Jun 30, 2005 03:22 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staffEDO-Darlington Inc. in Wando, SC has won a $240 million value indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price, time and material contract from the U.S. Marine Corps – for the second time. The contract covers procurement and support of telecom transition switch modules.
Transition switch modules provide a flexible unit level switch capability to transition between legacy tri-service tactical switches and current commercial technology. Another key element of this transition is the Joint Enhanced Core Communication System, or JECCS, which EDO is also producing for the Marine Corps. JECCS provides a mobile telecommunications “central office” mounted on a Humvee jeep, which connects with Transition Switch Modules to give individual Marines full access to the communications network.
TSM consists of three major components:
- The deployable end office suite (DEOS) provides basic voice circuit switching, subscriber access and call service attendant capabilities.
- The remote subscriber access module (RSAM) provides the capability to extend telephone and dial-up data services to remote subscribers.
- The deployable integrated transport suite (DITS) will be used in conjunction with a DEOS to provide bandwidth management, multiplexing, and technical control functions.
Components of the DEOS and DITS will be integrated into transit and storage cases for unit transport.
The contract includes the acquisition of up to 476 transition switch modules, testing, associated training, training devices, spares, contractor interim support services, field service representatives, engineering/logistics services, and provisioning technical documentation.
Work will be performed in Wando, SC (90%) and Augusta, GA (10%), and is expected to be complete May 2010. This contract was competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities website and the Marine Corps Systems Command’s opportunities website. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA issued the contract (M67854-05-D-7043).
Note that a similar $240 million contract for up to 476 transition switch modules, which is expected to be completed September 2011, has been issued to EDO-Darlington in the past (M67854-04-D-7057). The contract was originally awarded to EDO in June 2004. However, a protest of the award was filed by a competitor, causing the Marine Corps to re-compete the contract. EDO was successful in the re-competition.
(A previous version of this article was posted on May 27/05. The official corporate news release was issued June 22/05, and helped to clarify some key details.)
